Vehicles including recreational vehicles (“RVs”), airplanes, boats, trains, and the like often include toilets for the comfort and convenience of the passengers. The toilets of vehicles must perform under operating conditions that are significantly different from non-transitory toilets conventionally found in homes and businesses (“home toilets”). For example, vehicle toilets are typically required to operate often in a confined area. Additionally, vehicle toilets rely on a source of on-board water for flushing. For the latter reason, vehicle toilets are typically designed to operate with reduced water consumption for water conservation.
The design of vehicle toilets must accommodate the distinct operating conditions and preferably provide the customer with the comforts and customary features associated with home toilets. One example of a vehicle toilet is shown and described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,320 which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,320 discloses a toilet having a foot pedal flush control arrangement including two pedals. One of the pedals opens a toilet bowl discharge outlet and the other pedal supplies flush water to the bowl. The pedals both operate through actuation cables having a wire member slidable within a conduit. The flush water pedal can be independently actuated to partially fill the bowl prior to use of the toilet while the outlet closure member pedal co-acts with the flush water pedal so that upon opening of the bowl outlet, the flush water pedal is depressed providing water to the bowl. The wire members are solid wire members coupled to the pedals for both pull and push operation so that upon a failure of the pedal return mechanism, the pedals can be manually returned closing the bowl outlet and terminating the flow of flush water to the bowl.
While known vehicle toilets, including the toilet disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,320, have proven acceptable for their intended applications, there remains a need for continuous improvement in the pertinent art.